


extraordinary

by cautiouslyoptimistic



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 15:36:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9241976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cautiouslyoptimistic/pseuds/cautiouslyoptimistic
Summary: kara needs help and lena's not too sure how useful she'll beor, kara has a literal army at her back but she needs lena too





	

**Author's Note:**

> originally from tumblr @forlornlyoptimistic. now here too!!

The group of people who’ve congregated in her office are…unique…to say the least. She recognizes one of them as Alex, Kara’s sister, a woman she admittedly had been jealous of, not that she would ever say that aloud. The others are familiar—like the young man with the tendency to ramble who had helped her at the gala—but for the most part, she doesn’t know them.

(She’s not quite sure why she’s yet to call in security and throw them out. Perhaps idle curiosity?)

“I don’t mean to be rude,” she begins, pushing herself out of her chair, circling her desk and leaning heavily against it with her arms crossed over her chest, “but why are you here?”

“We need your help,” Alex says, turning to look at the other woman who has come with them, her NCPD badge gleaming at her waist. The woman nods, encouraging Alex to continue, and Alex refocuses on Lena. “Cadmus—your mother—has Supergirl. We have to get her back.”

“What on earth are you talking about?” she asks, just a little offended and more than a bit annoyed. She and her adoptive mother never had the most solid relationship, but she knows what her mother is not, and that’s a member of a insane organization hell-bent on killing innocents. (Lena believes not all aliens are good, she even believes that humans have the right to know if their neighbors aren’t one of them, but she’s not _irrational_. Killing aliens wouldn’t solve any problems. And her mother, her mother knows that.)

“We don’t have time for this,” the tall, muscular man says, shaking his head. “She’s a Luthor, we can’t trust a Luthor.”

“We have no choice,” the young man she recognizes says, shrugging. “She’s the one who’s been keeping tabs on the aliens in National City. She’s our only chance at tracking Supergirl.”

“All the more reason not to trust her, Winn,” the other man argues, his voice becoming deeper, as if there’s something the others are supposed to glean from his expression alone.

“I’m with Winn, James,” the officer says suddenly, sticking her hands into her pants pockets. “We’ve got no choice.”

“But—” James never gets the chance to argue. Alex raises a hand, silencing him, her eyes closed.

“Kara trusts her,” she says, acting like Lena isn’t even standing there. “So I do too.”

“What does this have to do with Kara?” Lena demands, worry and anxiety prickling at her even as she debates showing these people the door. “Will someone just explain what’s going on?”

“I’ll explain everything,” Alex says, staring intently at Lena, as if she wants to search for an excuse, a tick, anything really, that would give her the opportunity to back out. And while Lena would be perfectly content to never spend a single extra moment with men like Winn who spilled champagne over her or women like Alex who she was unnecessarily jealous of, the reminder that Kara is somehow involved in all this is enough for Lena to stare coolly back. “But first, there’s something you should know.”

 

x

 

“This is super-villain level crazy,” Winn says as she pushes past Lena and enters the room. A handful of men and women on computers work at tables scattered across the room, but they don’t even bother looking up when Lena walks breezily past them, her attention on the large screen on the wall. She raises her eyebrow as she sits down at an empty desk, working at a computer as Winn continues his rambling. “I mean, it’s cool. But crazy. You _really_ don’t like aliens, do you?”

“This isn’t about liking them or not liking them,” Lena says, trying to keep herself from snapping at Kara’s (at _Supergirl’s_ ) friend, trying to remain focused on the computer screen. “This is about being prepared. About not letting ourselves be vulnerable.”

“I told you,” James says from behind them, his eyes scanning the room, hesitance and reluctance in his eyes. “You’re just like him.”

“Lex wouldn’t have been willing to help,” Lena says, thinking of her only friend in National City and trying not to imagine what Cadmus (her _mother_ ) is putting her through. “Are you going to keep questioning me, or are you going to help?” James lets out something that sounds a lot like a groan, but he drops the subject and leans on the table, studying what she’s working on.

“So how does this alien detection thing work anyway? I thought you needed a sample of DNA or something.”

“I’ve made some improvements,” Lena mutters, not looking up from her work. Improvements, of course, is an understatement. After the device she had jokingly used with Kara turned out to be malfunctional (she supposes she now knows why that is), Lena had worked her people to the bone to find easier, less noticeable ways of detecting alien life. She supposes now is as good as time as any to test out her new product. “If Kara is in National City, we’ll find her.” She grimaces suddenly. “It just may take some time.”

“We don’t have time,” James snaps.

“You’re not the only one who cares for Kara, Mr. Olsen. I’m doing everything I can.” James’s mouth opens and closes several times before he hangs his head, looking apologetic.

“I bugged her suit,” Winn offers suddenly, staring at his fingernails.

“What?”

“I mean, she’s gotten kidnapped before, right? I thought it was a worthy investment,” Winn hurries to explain, not looking at either Lena or James. “But, uh. I guess I didn’t hide it as well as I thought because I lost her signal.”

“How about we just focus on finding Kara?” Lena asks, and to her utter relief, both James and Winn nod furiously.

 

x

“Of course I’m coming with you!”

“Ms. Luthor, you _can’t_. You’re a civilian, you’re not trained. You’d just get in the way,” Alex says, her expression soft despite her harsh words.

“None of you know my mother as well as I do. If you run into Cadmus, guns blazing, you’ll be playing right into her hands. Let me come. Let me _help_.” From over Alex’s shoulder, Lena can see the other DEO agents, Detective Sawyer, and the vigilante Guardian. She wonders if Kara knows how utterly incredible—awe-inspiring, really—it is to see how many people are willing to risk their lives for her. (And what’s terrifying is that Lena is one of them.)

“If you’re asking me to let you serve as bait, the answer is no. Kara would never forgive me if something happened to you.” Lena ignores the warmth and affection that floods through her at the thought of Kara caring about her, and instead focuses her attention on Alex’s quickly wavering strength.

“Please, if nothing else I can distract my mother. Let me help save Kara, let me come with you.”

“Fine!” Alex relents, her need to get to Kara as quickly as possible finally overwhelming her desire to keep everyone safe. “But you follow my orders, you understand?”

“Yes, of course. Absolutely.”

 

x

 

She thinks she had known she was developing feelings for the reporter when Kara quietly admitted that her editor had forced her to completely rewrite the piece on L-Corp. It wasn’t the admission that Kara had changed her mind that had made Lena so happy, but that Kara had been honest and upfront and _open_. And if Lena really thinks about it, nearly every single of their interactions went the same way. Lena adores Kara’s genuineness. She adores Kara’s earnestness, her tenacity, her determination, her kindness.

So seeing Kara slumped against the bars of a cage, looking defeated and worn in her blue and red suit, breaks Lena’s heart.

“Kara?” Gunshots ring out in the distance, and Kara shifts her head, turning just enough so that Lena is in her field of vision. For a moment she just frowns, looking confused, but then her eyes flutter shut. “Kara?” Lena repeats, rushing forward and opening the cage, dropping to her knees next to Kara. “Kara, it’s me.”

“Your mom…not nice,” Kara says, her eyes opening. She studies Lena for a moment before a smile appears on her face—wide and unhindered. “Just really awful.”

“Most people feel that way after meeting her,” Lena says, finding that she doesn’t need to force her smile, doesn’t need to think too hard about brushing Kara’s hair out of her eyes, doesn’t need to consider if it’s all right to allow Kara to lean heavily on her as they get off the floor and stagger out of the cell. She just does it.

“Is Alex here?” Kara asks as more gunshots ring out, and Lena nods, glad that she opted for flats this morning. She wouldn’t have been able to carry Kara like this had she been in heels.

“The DEO, the Guardian, the NCPD. You had a line of people ready to risk their lives for you.”

“And you.”

“Sorry?”

“You risked your life for me too.” She looks astounded as she says it, like she thinks she doesn’t deserve something like that, and Lena wonders if Kara is aware of just how extraordinary she is. And it’s not that she has the ability to fly or that she’s bulletproof. She’s just…she’s Kara. Utterly extraordinary as just Kara.

But of course, Lena isn’t quite sure how to say that (not yet anyway), so she just smiles and continues to help Kara to safety.

 

x

 

Supergirl ( _Kara_ ) lands on the balcony just as Lena finishes off her second drink of the night, still buzzing from the events of several days prior.

Though her mother and other Cadmus members had managed to escape, Alex had said it was a decisive blow to the organization, earning Lena an apology from James. (Lena would have rather been allowed to stay with Kara as she remained at the DEO, receiving her special brand of treatment for the wounds she wouldn’t talk about. She hadn’t been, obviously. The name Luthor didn’t mean much to the men and women who so admired Superman.) Honestly, after everything that had happened, Lena half expected to have agents burst through her doors at any moment, arresting her for knowing too much.

But she puts all that behind her as she smiles at Kara ( _Supergirl_ ), waiting for the other woman to speak first. She doesn’t have to wait very long.

“I wanted to thank you,” she said, stepping forward before thinking better of it and leaning back against the balcony railing. “For what you did for me.”

“You already thanked me.”

“No, I didn’t.” She looks up at the sky, and Lena takes the opportunity to study Kara. Somehow, she doesn’t seem any different in the red and blue suit than she had in her sweaters and glasses. Somehow, it just fits. “I don’t think there are a lot of people like you out there, Lena.”

“You had a literal army come in to save you,” Lena says, waving Kara’s words off, surprised when Kara shakes her head.

“Not that. It’s just…I know how hard it is to be defined by other people’s actions.” She turns to look at Lena, smile fading. “My mother wasn’t…perfect. And for the longest time, I thought I’d be defined by her mistakes. By who she was.”

“And you aren’t?”

“No. I’m just…me. I make my own mistakes.” She turns to face Lena, biting her lip for a second before shrugging. “I know you said you wanted to make a name of yourself, to get away from your family.” She frowns a little, clearly considering her next words. “It’s just…maybe the public will always see you as a Luthor, but to me, you’re just Lena. Lena, the woman who saved me even though I lied about who I was.”

“It’s fine,” Lena says with a laugh, amused that _this_ is what Kara is struggling with—a bit of guilt over keeping a secret. “Really it is,” she insists when it looks like Kara will argue. “Looking back, all the things I chalked up to adorable awkwardness is just really bad lying.”

“I’m a great liar,” Kara immediately protests, eyes narrowing. “Wait. I’m not awkward.”

(Lena becomes a little bit more sure of how she intends to tell Kara just how extraordinary she is.)

(But it can wait. At least, for now.)


End file.
